Happy New Year.
A relative gentle start to 2022 for Eye solvers compared to that Christmas monster for which great thanks to mc_rapper67 for the stupendous blog.
Top half and many others solved after the first pass meant only 8 to go and they were dispatched reasonably easily.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 9 | RATTLER | Arse let out with end of trouser snake (7) RAT (arse) LET* AInd: out. [trouse]R. First one read and solved (though with a little niggle about the wordplay till I properly parsed it later) |
| 10 | CIRCLED | Went round with corrupt cleric, initially defrocked (7) (CLERIC)* AInd: corrupt. D[efrocked] |
| 11 | AUTOMATED | Power-driven, advanced, spread out and screwed (9) A[dvanced] (OUT)* AInd: spread. MATED (screwed) |
| 12 | GIRTH | Tackle bent back – no end to the thickness (5) RIG< (tackle, back) TH[e] |
| 13 | MISINFORMATION | Frontman is (IMO) one to ferment fake news (14) (FRONTMAN IS IMO)* AInd: to ferment. Edit: (FRONTMAN IS IMO + I (one))* See comment #1 |
| 16 | TETCHY | Ratty Conservative, having no alternative, accepts draw (6) T[or]Y (Conservative – OR , alternative) around ETCH (draw) |
| 18 | EDISON | Sheeran is no flipping innovator (6) ED (Sheeran) IS NO< Ed Sheeran has now become the new Ed Balls, maybe. (Well, Ed Davey wasn’t going to step up – or was he?) |
| 21 | FEEL-GOOD FACTOR | Sense of optimism, as a result of grope by wicked female player (4-4,6) FEEL (grope) GOOD (wicked) F[emale) ACTOR (player). The clue that gave me the most trouble |
| 24 | CROSS | Mad Conservative leader taking on Jonathan? (5) C[onservative] ROSS |
| 25 | SUBSCRIBE | More lowly than a writer? Make sure you get your Eye regularly! (9) CD/DD Double Definition, one of them cryptic leading to SUB-SCRIBE really |
| 27 | FRAGILE | Cloth stuck into tool – tender! (7) RAG (cloth) in FILE (tool) |
| 28 | LEGWEAR | Real stupid, squeezing say, opening of willy stocking? (7) (REAL)* AInd: stupid. around EG (say) and W[illy] |
| Down | ||
| 1 | URBAN MYTH | Hunt involved with barmy broadcast: plausible-sounding rubbish (5,4) (HUNT BARMY)* AInd: broadcast. I initially worked the anagram and found THUMB YARN which kind of works! |
| 2 | STATUS | Fact: America is rank (6) STAT (fact) US |
| 3 | SLAM | Criticize city mired in sexual activity (4) LA (city) in SM (do you have to ask?) |
| 4 | ORATION | Love quota, the speechmaker’s thing (7) O ( love) RATION (quota) |
| 5 | ACADEMY | Winehouse framing arsehole associated with English establishment (7) AMY (Winehouse) around (framing) CAD (arsehole) E[nglish] |
| 6 | BRIGHT IDEA | President, not finished with America, recruits conservative faction – brainwave! (6,4) BIDE[n] (President, not finished) + A[merica] around (recruits) RIGHT (conservative faction) |
| 7 | GLORIOUS | Terrible slog to cover ultimately unfair debt (grand) (8) (SLOG)* AInd: Terrible. over (to cover) [unfai]R IOU (debt) |
| 8 | IDAHO | State aid squandered by House (5) (AID)* AInd: squandered. HO[use] |
| 14 | NIHILISTIC | In complete denial when nitrogen added to his illicit rum – left to withdraw (10) N[itrogen] (HIS ILLICIT – L)* AInd: rum. |
| 15 | IN ARREARS | Rare rains ruptured behind (2,7) (RARE RAINS)* AInd: ruptured. |
| 17 | TEETOTAL | Duck holds bear up (not taking the piss) (8) TOTE< (bear, up) in TEAL (duck) |
| 19 | LOBSTER | Possible pot victim has to throw rest out (7) LOB (to throw) REST* AInd: out. Excellent definition = works in two senses |
| 20 | ODDBALL | Bizarre Fuhrer’s exclusive possession? (7) Cryptic Def. referring to the legend and song set to the “Colonel Bogey” march tune, that Hitler, has only got one ball The other, is in the Albert Hall … |
| 22 | TOILET | Can Labour finally overcome Left? (6) TOIL (labour) [overcom]E [lef]T. Last one in. Though it is an Americanism, “can” for toilet has been used often enough in Eye crosswords that it should not have misled me as much as it did |
| 23 | SCOFF | Upper-class coffee houses jibe (5) Hidden in clasS COFFee |
| 26 | CAGE | Enclosure: cocaine (mature) (4) C[ocaine] AGE (mature) |
Many of us are riding the wave of fun provided by the daily dose of the 5 letter word game Wordle
Those of us who have a penchant for 4 letter words need not feel left out, because now there is also Sweardle
Have fun!
Thanks for the blog, I think MISINFORMATION needs an extra I from the ONE , this makes it an indirect anagram which I have to frown at.
I liked URBAN MYTH and NIHILISTIC, GOOD=WICKED took a while, a bit modern for me.
Thanks for pointing out the wordplay on 13A. I hadn’t noticed.
But there again, with Cyclops there’s probably always need for an extra I
I wonder if your idea @2 has been used ? Has Cyclops referenced himself to indicate one i or a missing i ?
I’m with you, beermagnet. I struggled on the toilet for an uncomfortable time.
R for ‘labour, finally’ then .. what?
I needed all the crossers but my legwear was slow in coming, too.
I do enjoy the Cyclops tone, ranging from double entendre to out-and-out filth.
I had great difficulty with 16A and those around it since I had initially put in TAWDRY but was upset that there was no Anag Ind for ‘draw’. Otherwise it seemed to work. Eventually, I deleted it and started to get on the right track.
Thanks Beermagnet and Cyclops and Happy New Year to you as well . I didn’t spot (at solve time) the ‘missing’ I that eagle-eyed Roz @1 picked up on. TIMC H @4 Winsor@5 if it’s any comfort, I also struggled with both the 22d and 16a clues. 17d, 20d and 22d were my favourites.
re Oddball 20d I seem to remember as a kid in the sixties we used to sing ‘the other is hanging on the wall’. In any case, the goolie seems to have been let out of the bag.
Little bits of indirectness in anagram fodder like that in 13ac, MISINFORMATION don’t bother me as they do Roz … but we’ve discussed all that before.
Like Roz, I was thrown at first by wicked=GOOD, but yeah — wicked clue!
Loved the forthright surface of 2d, STATUS.
In 25ac, I think you should read it as a charade: SUB (more lowly than) + SCRIBE (a writer). To define the noun SUB-SCRIBE would need a noun def, such as “One more lowly etc”
3dn, SLAM: I think more might have to ask than if you’d written it as ‘S and M’, which is how I interpreted it.
Re 6d since when has America been represented by the single letter ‘a’? The country is abbreviated as USA or US, and the continents as SA and NA, but I don’t recall ever seeing the letter A and thinking ‘that means America’. The clue could perhaps be ‘President, not finished with “America First” …..’
Tony, see, for example, Collins online:
A.
in British English
abbreviation for
1. acre(s) or acreage
2. America(n)
3. answer